Write how the Esteban and Clara
and 2 other characters develop. At the beginning of the story Esteban was a kind, gentle man with a crush on Rosa. After Rosa dies, he becomes perverted, goes to Tres Marías to get away from the pain. He builds it up and it becomes a very busy pueblo. When he finds out that his mother is passing away he goes back to see her and she tells him to find a wife and settle down with her. When he meets Clara, he changes back to being the kind man and marries Clara. When he finds Blanca with Pedro Tercero he becomes an angry man and beats Blanca and Clara. This is when Clara leaves and Esteban becomes a sad old man. He stays this way all the way up until his granddaughter, Alba comes home from concentration camp. After this he is happy until death. Clara develops from a child who predicts death up to a peaceful grandmother with special talents. After she predicted her sister, Rosa's death she stopped talking not because she can't, but because she decides not to. Seven years later she talks to say that she will be getting married to Rosa's old Fiance. When Clara was pregnant she was very deep into the spirits. She would talk to Blanca who was still in her stomach, in perfect Spanish as if she was an adult. She spoke to Blanca like that even when she was a baby. After Clara left with Blanca she became sort of normal. She was very happy and had forgiven Esteban for beating her after she died. Alba was born from Blanca. Even from birth, Esteban Trueba loved her. During Alba's childhood she loved to go into the basement and play with all the junk down there. When Alba got older she acquired different beliefs and fell in love with a strong believer in democrat views. She agreed with his views and because of it she was captured and sent to a camp. Alba was a strong, independant woman and she knew what to do with herself. Even though she was raped many times she knew how to hold her head high. When she got back from the concentration camp she reunited with her grandfather who she loved very much. They lived happily and wrote a book together with the help of Clara. When Esteban died Alba finished the book. Pedro Tercero García was born a rebel. He loved Blanca from the first days they were playing together as toddlers and then slept together arm in arm up until the end of the book. When Pedro first comes into the story is when he is to young to remember his feelings. As he grew up his belief in the views of the democrats grew stronger and he preached them out for all to hear. As the story progresses he falls more and more in love with Blanca. Esteban does not like Pedro at first and when he finds them sleeping together he vows he will kill Pedro. When he finds Pedro he tries to kill him by throwing an axe at him, but it only cuts off three of his fingers. Pedro all throughout the story has strong beliefs in views of the democrats. Choose three themes and tell how these three themes advance the understanding of the story. The first theme that I am choosing is obsession. Throughout the story everyone is obsessed with something. At first, Esteban is obsessed with Rosa. When she dies he is obsessed with getting away from everything and building up a new life. As the story progresses, Esteban is obsessed with his Clara loving him and does everything to get her to love him. When Esteban finds out that Blanca and Pedro Tercero have been sleeping together he becomes obsessed with destroying Pedro. Jaime is obsessed with helping others instead of himself. He would go as far as taking the clothes off himself and giving them to others. Clara at times, becomes obsessed with the spirits. This theme eminates itself all throughout the story. The next theme is desires. All throughout life, people have desires. It goes the same way in this book. In the beginning, Clara desires to bring in and take care of Barrábas. Esteban desires to make Rosa his wife, and Nívea desires that womens suffragement becomes effective. As the story goes on, Esteban desires to have Clara, Blanca and Pedro Tercero desire to be together and make love, Esteban desires to take back what he did to Clara and Blanca. Towards the end, Esteban desires that Alba come home alive from the concentration camp. All these are examples of how desires connect the story together. The last theme is self-deception. This one is mainly for Esteban Trueba who always thinks that he is right and his pride will never let him admit that he is wrong. It is also when Esteban García is telling himself that he should have Blanca's life because Esteban Trueba is his grandfather. This theme connects the story together and shows how everyone comes together in the book, The House of the Spirits. |